Makoto kept her promise. After school, she and Karin stood on opposite sides of the school's basketball field, glaring at each other with fierce eyes.
Rumors of the fight circulated fast, and so it was no surprise that most of the students were assembled. They all were unconsciously standing on the side of the opponent they were siding with or whose opinion they shared. The teachers knew they couldn't stop this from happening, so they didn't interfere. They knew that Makoto, as well as Karin were fair fighters and wouldn't go as far as injuring their opponent so badly that they had to go to hospital.
Usagi carefully tugged at Makoto's sleeve. "Mako-chan… you don't have to do this."
"Yes, I have," Makoto insisted. "That bitch had it coming. If she doesn't accept you for what you are, fine… but if she keeps mobbing you, I'm gonna shove her own words down her throat!"
She cracked her knuckles and stepped forth. Karin gave her a smirk and came closer, too.
"Well, you ready?" the blonde smiled.
"Ready to kick your butt," Makoto growled as she raised her fists. Karin just grinned and went into her fighting stance.
An enthusiastic girl from Karin's class was made the referee. They knew she wouldn't simply side with Karin. She and Karin may be friends… but they were also rivals.
She raised her hand. "Ready?" She brought it down. "Fight!"
And when the two opponents began to pummel each other with punches and kicks, the girl with the headband couldn't suppress a grin. "This is so cool! I've never been a referee!"
Another girl from her class sweatdropped. "Aren't you a bit too enthusiastic about this, Sakura-chan?"
While the students cheered and shouted, Karin and Makoto were focussed only on the fight. Karin blocked a swift punch of her pony-tailed opponent and attacked with a sweeping kick. Makoto skillfully jumped over it and aimed at Karin's upper body with her foot.
Karin foresaw this attack and grabbed Makoto's foot with her feet. "Too slow!" And with a fierce move, she tried to shove her opponent to the ground. Makoto caught her balance, however, and attacked with a full-body tackle.
Karin was taken aback and grunted from the impact, however, she grabbed Makoto's body and tried to bring her down. Makoto grabbed her arms in turn and the fight had turned into an intense wrestling match.
Makoto winced when she noticed that Karin was slowly pushing her back. She began to sweat. "What's the matter?" Karin asked. "You look like you've got problems." She snickered. "This battle is already mine. Just give it up, it'll be easier."
The arrogant sneer on Karin's face was enough to push Makoto over the edge. With an almost inhuman growl, she pushed against the other girl with all her might. Karin gasped and intensified her pressure on Makoto, but then she looked at the other girl's eyes and saw a strange glint in them. They weren't human eyes… they were the wild eyes of an animal.
"What the…?" she gasped. Makoto snarled, and Karin focussed back on the battle. She tried one more time to push the other girl back, but her strength was no match for Makoto's raw power. Her legs gave way, and she found herself being pushed on her back. Makoto's hands had her arms in a steel-like grip and her fingernails began to bury themselves in the flesh of Karin's arms.
The rich girl shivered. For some reason, this girl frightened her beyond belief. "STOP!" she cried. "Stop it, I give up! I give up! Just stop!"
And suddenly… Makoto found herself awakening from her fit of rage. She let go of Karin's arms and looked down at her fingernails, which were covered with blood. Her hands began to shake. 'No…' she thought. 'No, I thought I could control it…'
She slowly stood up from the ground, barely noticing the bewildered crowd that looked at her in astonishment.
"Um… um, I guess… that makes Makoto the winner," Sakura muttered weakly. "Um, congratulations…" But she was just as befuddled as were the others. They hadn't seen the wild glint in Makoto's eyes or the blood on her fingers, but they clearly had witnessed how savagely she had fought. And they had heard the frightening growls she had been making.
Karin crawled backwards to the end of the field before she stood up on shaking legs. Her trembling finger was pointed accusingly at Makoto. "You… you're one of those freaks too, aren't you?"
Usagi approached her friend from behind. "Mako-chan…"
Makoto simply clenched her fists and ran away from the basketball field and from the school compound.
Usagi felt a bit helpless. She turned around to Naru. "What's wrong with her?"
"I'm not sure…" Naru murmured. She bit her lip. "Well… maybe… I have a hunch. But… I think we need to calm her down. Usagi, you're faster than I am. Can you catch up with her and speak with her? I need to check something out in Dad's old book…"
"Um, sure thing, Naru-chan," Usagi nodded. Then she began to ran after Makoto. Keeping up with her shouldn't be too hard even without using her wings. After all, she was a vampire now and Makoto was a human… wasn't she?
Meanwhile, Naru hurried home, all the while muttering the phrase "Werewolves... werewolves..."
Makoto panted as she ran around the corner. She leaned against a house wall with her upper body and began to pound the bricks with her fists. "Dammit…" she whispered as tears began to run down her face. "Dammit… I thought I could control it! All that training… was it for nothing? And it's not even a full moon yet…"
"Well, isn't this pathetic," a voice behind her spoke up. Makoto's eyes widened. She spun around and faced the dark-skinned, muscular man who had snuck up behind her.
"Ortega…" she whispered.
The blonde man grinned as he towered over her. "What happened to Makoto, Blue Crescent Moon, the only wolf-beast from our clan that managed to keep her powers under control? Has she turned into a weak little school girl? Or can't she simply control her own temper? Looks like all that training was for nothing…"
Makoto clenched her fists. "What do you know?" she spat. "Do you know how hard it was for me to reach this goal? To live like a normal human again? The members of our clan have been outcasts for centuries… not able to live with other people because of our curse. Of course I wanted to change that!"
Ortega scratched his chin. "Hmmm… was that before or after you killed your own parents?"
A deep growl escaped from Makoto's throat. "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" she shouted. "You know that! Don't you dare bring that up again! What do you think why I chose to do my training in the first place? It was to PREVENT such a tragedy from happening ever again!"
"Oh, is that so? Could have fooled me… I mean, I've seen your battle. The look on your face when you grabbed that girl… you were ready to strangle her. To bury your fangs in her soft flesh and…"
"That's not true!" Makoto shouted.
"Oh, really? Then why are your hands covered with blood?"
Makoto roared with fury. This time, she didn't hold herself back. In a flash, she transformed, growing even taller in the process. Her face pushed out into a long snout, grey fur covered her body from head to toe and clawed feet came bursting forth from her shoes. She dove at Ortega with bared fangs… only to be stopped by a pair of clawed hands that were covered with yellow fur.
"You have no control," Ortega spoke in a rumbling voice. Makoto looked up at a muzzle full of teeth. "You have yet to realize the full extent of our powers… the true potential that can be unlocked by siding with the right people."
"How…" Makoto muttered as she stared at Ortega's transformed form. "How can you control it… I… I thought I was the only one…"
The were-lion pushed her back and spread his arms. "True power, Makoto! Unlike you, I didn't go through any training… I was given a gift. A gift to control my transformation with no difficulties. I met someone… someone who realized my true potential. And with her help, I can do what I never managed to do: I can beat you!"
"Who was it?" Makoto yelled. It almost sounded like a bark. "Who did this to you?"
"The Lady Carmilla," Ortega sneered as he raised his fist. "She offered me this gift… in exchange for eternal loyalty."
"You made a pact with Dracula's followers?" Makoto murmured. She then bared her teeth. "TRAITOR! Our clan made a promise never to side with the minions of evil… the power of the beasts can't fall into the wrong hands!"
"What do I care?" the lion-man roared. "Of what importance is a promise to me that was made eons ago, by a couple of old geezers who never understood the meaning of true power? All that matters to me is your defeat… at my hands! I'll kill you if I have to, but you will go down!"
"You are so stupid," Makoto snarled. "Grow up, Ortega! We were how old when I defeated you in front of our old master? Fourteen? Fifteen? Is that little childhood grudge of yours so big that you can become a traitor?"
"You'd never understand!" Ortega shouted. "You've always been the best at everything! It's always Makoto this, Makoto that… and after you returned to our village, proud of having mastered the control over your beast side, everyone celebrated you as a hero. They even gave you the name that only one member of our clan had ever carried before: Blue Crescent Moon! And me? They all ignored me! They scolded me for my failures! They laughed at me when I wanted to accomplish what you did! Well, they won't laugh any more… not after I'll finally defeat you, once and for all!"
"So that's why you're here?"
"Well, that's the main reson, yeah. However, I'm officially here at the order of my new mistress." He held out his paw with a smile. "It has come to her ears that you managed to acquire a most precious artifact…"
Makoto's hands darted to her breast pocked. "You want the Eye of Anubis?"
"Lady Carmilla needs it. A powerful ally of Dracula will soon arrive in Tokyo, and this amulet is needed to reanimate his body. His powerful magic will be a great help when the time has come to revive the lord of darkness. So give it to me!"
"Never!" Makoto growled.
Ortega smirked. "I was hoping you'd say that… very well!" He flexed his muscles. "I've been waiting for this a long time, Makoto… don't you disappoint me!"
Makoto winced when the towering form of the were-lion stormed at her. She never fought Ortega in his beast-form before, and who could tell just how stronger he became after forming the pact with Dracula's allies.
Before the two were-beasts could begin their fight, however, a flock of bats came flying down from the sky and right between the opponents. Ortega stopped as if he had hit a brick wall and Makoto could only stare when the bats merged and transformed into her friend Usagi.
"If you want a piece of Mako-chan, you'll have to go through me first!" she shouted.
Ortega raised a bushy eyebrow. "So, you're the vampire brat Carmilla and the others are after, eh? I'm not here to play with you, little girl, so step out of my way! Dracula's minions will hunt you down soon enough, don't worry."
Makoto was surprised as well, but then she shouted: "Usagi, step out of the way! This is my fight!"
"The heck it is!" Usagi yelled back without even turning around. "You just had a fight… facing him at this condition would be more than unfair. Also, you're my friend… you've got to be crazy to think that I'd let you face this idiot all alone!" She then looked over her shoulder and winked. "Us scary monster-type girls have to stick together, don't you agree?"
Makoto sighed, but then a smile spread her wolfish features. "Well… can't argue agains that logic." And she stood beside her friend, entering her combat stance.
Now facing two opponents, Ortega realized that he was at a disadvantage there. He wanted to beat Makoto, and he had promised to return the Eye of Anubis to Carmilla, true… but he didn't want to risk being beaten up by a pair of school girls… or worse.
"Looks like you win this round," he said as he transformed back into a human. "But I'll be back, Makoto. For the amulet… and for your ass!" He pointed at her with a grin.
"Get out of here, you perv, before I sink my teeth into YOUR ass!" the she-wolf barked.
Ortega smirked one last time, then he turned around and disappeared behind the corner.
Usagi sighed in relief. She really wasn't in the mood for a fight. She then smiled at the werewolf standing enxt to her. "Looks like you also had a secret, huh?"
"Usagi…" Makoto began. "I really didn't want to lie to you…"
"Aw, you never really talked about it, so it wasn't a lie, right?" the vampiress smirked. "C'mon, lose the fur for now. I wanna invite you for ice cream!"
Makoto smiled as she turned back into a human. "Sounds good!"
And together, the two shapeshifters approached their next goal: The Crown Fruit Parlor.
"Say…" Usagi said while they were walking. "What was all that talk about anyway?"
"Well, you see, that guy and I go way back…"
"Not that! That's your own business. I mean, what about that amulet he spoke about?"
"Oh. Well, a good friend gave this to me some time ago, see? And he told me to keep it safe…"
"I see… and when he said that some ally of Dracula is coming to town, do you know who he was talking about?"
"You know, I really have no idea…"
At the same time, a cargo plane was entering Japanese airspace.
"Tokyo Airport, request clearance to land, over!"
In the cargo area of the plane, several huge crates were standing, several of which were on their way to one of Tokyo's many museums. Inside one of these crates, an piece of history was transported… an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus.
Inside the sarcophagus, a moldered, dead body was resting, wrapped with bandages, waiting for a chance to rise again…
A smaller, also bandaged body was pressed against the bigger mummy.
"Phew! Did you have to do that, Artemis?"
"Hey! Do you know for how long we've been in here? It's not like I can have a bathroom break."
"Well, it's still disgusting." The female mummy shuffled around a bit in the darkness.
"Ow! Thanks a lot, Minako, that was my tail!"
"Well, it's not my fault it's so dark in here. How long until we reach Japan, you think?"
"What am I, a stewardess? Just be patient and wait."
"But it's soooo boring in here!" the Japanese girl turned mummy whined.
"Maybe if you hadn't brought us into this mess, we could fly first class…" the mummified cat mumbled.
"Shut up! How could I know that this coffin is cursed? First thing we'll do once we land is to sneak out of this plane and find the amulet we were told about. With a bit of luck, it can turn us back to normal."
"Hopefully," Artemis sighed. "It's been so long since I've enjoyed a simple piece of tuna…"
"You think you've got it bad? No boys will ever take a look at me as long as I'm trapped in this rotten body," Minako wailed.
"Well, you look quite good, for a mummy… Aw, you know what? I don't think it's gonna work. I mean, we don't even know where to look for this 'Eye of Anubis'…"
"Be quiet! We just have to keep searching. Nothing gained, nothing ventured."
"It's 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'," the mummy cat grumbled.
Author's Notes:
Well, here we have the next Senshi. More about how she got turned into a mummy and how Makoto got that amulet in the next chapter.
